


Paint me with your Imagination

by RosePetalsAndRain



Series: The Beauty of Your Mind [1]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fantasy, First Dates, Fluff, Hwang Hyunjin is Whipped, Hwang Hyunjin is a Sweetheart, In a way, Kim Seungmin is Whipped, Kim Seungmin-centric, M/M, No Angst, Supernatural Elements, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, powers, seungmin was blessed with a magical ability before he was born, thats such a pure tag it makes me happy to see it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:07:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25859458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosePetalsAndRain/pseuds/RosePetalsAndRain
Summary: Before birth, Kim Seungmin was cursed.Or blessed, it depends on how you look at it: whatever he was imagining would be projected into the physical world in an ethereal cloud-like painting.He'd kept it well-hidden for his entire life... so why was it that a certain Hwang Hyunjin should see it happen not once, but twice?But with the ultimate outcome, maybe Seungmin wasn't as cursed as he originally thought he was.
Relationships: Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin
Series: The Beauty of Your Mind [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1891009
Comments: 21
Kudos: 161





	Paint me with your Imagination

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, thank you for clicking on this fic! I had this idea whilst daydreaming and realised I was staring at a brick in a wall, and just thought, "what if we could project our daydreams onto physical surfaces? that would be pretty cool." and thus, this fic was born. I hope you'll enjoy! <3

People these days have no idea how lucky they are.

It’s a statement that Kim Seungmin lives by; but he’s not referencing the same “phones, electronics and medical shots” mindset that his grandparents preach the same statement so dedicatedly about. 

When Seungmin says this, he means something entirely different.

To put it simply: since birth, or even before that, Seungmin has been cursed. Or blessed; himself and his parents have very different views on the matter. What they think is a gift; a true blessing and  _ “incredible ability,” _ he counts as a curse; a hindrance in his everyday life. 

_ Seungmin _ doesn’t remember this, of course, but apparently, when his mother was pregnant with him; just five months along in her pregnancy, she had come about a stranded woman on the street, looking haggard, dirty, hungry. Obviously she hadn’t left the poor woman there and walked on; she had been quick to take out her purse in concern and had given the woman some money for food, in addition to her bottle of water and sandwich that she had originally bought for herself after one pregnancy craving in particular. 

The woman had been very grateful indeed, and had noticed Seungmin’s mother’s baby bump, which of course contained Seungmin all those years ago. She had cradled the bump in her hands and closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them Seungmin’s mother had recalled seeing her eyes  _ glow _ for a moment; “a beautiful sunset orange,” she had described them, reverently so. 

_ “May you and your child be blessed,” the woman had said, “through the magic of the subconscious.” _

However confusing this had been to Seungmin’s mother, she had brushed the woman’s words off and thanked her, before carrying on with the rest of her day. She had long since forgotten about the encounter with the poor woman until one day, when Seungmin was a little under one year old, had suddenly started laughing delightedly, clapping his tiny chubby hands together in glee at something he saw on the floor in front of him. 

His mother had looked up, smiling at her baby’s happiness when-  _ oh? _ \- a  _ picture _ was on the floor;  _ on _ the floor, directly  _ above _ it, no paper or supplies anywhere in sight. Seungmin, who had been sitting up, had leaned forward to smack both hands on the floor in front of him, aiming for the picture, but toppled face-first into the colours, and they had disappeared in a flurry of dreamlike smoke. 

It had been so  _ strange- _ with Seungmin’s father out at work, his mother had wondered if she’d gone completely mad; it wasn’t as if she could ask her eleven-month old son if he’d seen the same thing that she had. Maybe she’d been horribly sleep deprived; it was true she wasn’t sleeping at all well since giving birth. That might have been it. Yes, that must have been it. 

But the same thing had kept occurring; it became more and more of a usual occurrence in the Kim household for Seungmin to suddenly be standing or sitting in front of a greatly detailed picture that had come out of nowhere, and would vanish if Seungmin batted at it enough. It was inexplicable- but admittedly beautiful. 

Only once Seungmin was about five years old did the family finally realise what the cause of it was: when Seungmin  _ concentrated _ , his thoughts would take physical form right where his eyes had been directed. 

This was a huge inconvenience for when the boy was daydreaming; his innermost thoughts or fantasies could well be projected onto the wall, person or object that his eyes had been accidentally fixed upon, or even just in the air in front of him. It was infuriating, especially as a young child, before he’d learned to control his thoughts and never let them linger on one thing too intensely, or for too long. 

But, as he’d grown and developed, he’d gotten used to keeping daydreams to the privacy of his own home or even just his room, because it really didn’t do to share your private thoughts with other people, not even his family if he could help it. It really felt like a breach of his own privacy; and whilst his mother positively gushed about him being ‘blessed’, Seungmin felt no incline to agree. It felt like much more of a burden than anything else.

Although, in some ways, it had helped him to grow positively. At school and in class, he  _ had _ to concentrate all the time, for lessons were relatively fast-paced, so as long as his attention followed whatever the teachers were saying, there’d be no opportunity for him to concentrate on one thing long enough for his brain to project physical pictures out onto his desk, or the whiteboard. 

Within friendships, Seungmin was a greatly valued person, for he always listened intently to everything one said to him, and he never missed out even one detail of whatever was mentioned in conversations. He only had a small group of friends, but they all admired his ability to constantly pay attention to everybody around him and his ability to hyperfocus on everything that went on around him. It was remarkable, but mostly only because he  _ had _ to focus on the fast-paced elements of life when in public; never able to slow down for fear of exposing his ability to everybody around him.

These were admittedly great aspects that made up the young boy’s personality and solidified his friendships, but sometimes- most of the time- Seungmin simply wished to be  _ normal. _ Whilst his ‘ability’ did help him become an overachiever; his grades surpassing the expectations for his age every single year, he’d give anything to get rid of the way he was and just  _ not have to be so paranoid all the time. _

Writing essays? He couldn’t focus on one topic for too long; was always trying to keep the ball moving in his head as well as staying on-topic so that his current point wouldn’t get painted instead of written in his exercise book.

Reading a book? This was great in the privacy of his bedroom, for he could project the images from the text onto his wall, or bedding- anywhere, really, without having to worry- but when studying texts in classes, he had to be extra careful not to concentrate  _ too _ hard on it, or else the whole class would see his mind’s depiction of the plot. And how would he even begin to explain that? 

_ Anyway _ . 

Past the complications, past the inconvenience- Seungmin supposes it isn’t so bad. It certainly isn’t normal, but it’s  _ his _ normal, and though he wished to be rid of his ability sometimes, he does admittedly love his gift. 

He just wishes he could turn it off and on from time to time, you know?

None of his friends know about it; just his parents. And that’s how he intends to keep things.

  
  


****

  
  


He should have expected to slip up at some point, really. 

It’s a dull Tuesday towards the end of exam season, and Seungmin is exhausted, having been awake most of the night cramming in that last-minute exam practise and studying before his final exams the next day. Now he’s regretting it; much rather preferring being rested and coherent on the day of a big exam to being in his current state of half-asleep haziness. 

He still has a few hours to go until his exam, and had decided to venture out from his dorm room and sit in the library on-campus, hoping that being in a working environment would rouse him from his sleepy state and help him focus on his facts. 

Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.

Seungmin ends up sitting in one of the comfy armchairs dotted around the expanse of the ground floor of the quiet building, legs curled beneath him and chin propped up on one hand as he stares off into space, trying desperately to concentrate on what he should be concentrating on: the notebook full of revision he has sitting in his lap. 

But, of course, as any sleep-deprived student can relate to, his mind wanders, and he finds himself daydreaming without realising. 

Huge mistake already; but he doesn’t realise, and so he sinks deeper; deeper into the half-asleep daze that encases him like the softest of blankets.

See, Seungmin hadn’t yet noticed, but someone had just entered the library: a certain Hwang Hyunjin, Seungmin’s unknowing crush; and he was currently making his way around the shelves, scanning the spines of the books on each row, clearly looking for something in particular. 

Making his way into Seungmin’s line of sight, the elder of the two had managed to make his presence known to the younger, without Seungmin consciously realising it, and his thoughts instantly skipped to the dancer like a broken CD player. 

If Felix were here, he’d one hundred percent be teasing Seungmin already, poking his side and whispering teasing words into his ear at the sight of his crush. But as this is a rare time that Seungmin was completely alone, so he had nobody to keep him awake and aware of his surroundings and before he knew it, he was daydreaming immersively about the blond-haired dance major. 

_ Hands holding his, encasing his fingers in Hyunjin’s slightly longer ones. Dates with the older; casual coffee meet-ups and comfortable kisses being shared in between sips. Dinner dates where they could both dress up a little and Seungmin could take pictures of Hyunjin in a suit or other formal attire, smiling as he looked into his eyes across a candle-lit table- _

“Oh, hey Seungmin! What’ve you got- what…”

_ Shit. _

_ Well, Kim Seungmin, now you’ve gone and done it. _

The book that Seungmin had been unseeingly staring at is now covered in the dreamlike mist; colours bold and clear in high-quality shapes that are unmistakably himself and Hyunjin grace the pages like a photograph. Seungmin literally jumps out of his seat, and closes the book within an instant; watches as the mist evaporates and disperses like smoke after you blow a candle out. 

“Hi,” he smiles sheepishly, and hopes that playing things off casually will lead Hyunjin to believe that what he saw was just a hallucination. 

Hyunjin blinks and pouts, looking adorably confused. “This is gonna sound really strange but… I’m sure I just saw a picture of us on that paper.”

Seungmin laughs, quietly, so he won’t disturb the other students studying, and prays to any higher deity that exists that he’ll be able to play this off. “What? This is one of my revision books.”

“It is?” more blinking. “I could swear I just saw us both on your book, though…”

“You’re free to flick through if you want,” Seungmin smiles and holds the book out to Hyunjin, but he waves it off with one hand and a shake of his head. 

“No, it’s fine. I’m probably just a lot more stressed out than I thought…” Hyunjin’s brow is furrowed, and Seungmin feels achingly guilty for lying to him. But what else could he do?

“I hope you’re taking good care of yourself, Hyunjin.” his words come out sterner than intended, but no matter. 

Hyunjin smiles this time; a genuine smile that makes his eyes light up and curve into crescents. This time, Seungmin’s heart aches for a completely different reason. 

“Thank you, I will. I just have two more exams to go.” to Seungmin’s surprise, Hyunjin pulls up a chair; a plastic one, not unlike the ones they sit on in class, and sits on it back-to-front, hugging the back of the seat as he faces Seungmin whilst resting his chin on the top of it. “Do you have many exams left?”

“Yeah,” Seungmin hopes his cheeks aren’t flushing crimson yet, “I have four more. One today, two tomorrow and then one in three days’ time.” 

“Ah, that’s a lot.” Hyunjin winces in sympathy. “But, by the end of the week, you’ll have finished!” 

A librarian angrily shushes them, finally, after these few minutes of conversation, and Hyunjin holds a hand up in silent apology. 

“I’ll take my leave,” he whispers, and sends Seungmin a two-fingered salute as he stands up and returns his seat to its rightful place. “Good luck on your exams, Minnie. Let me know when you’ve finished them!”

And with that, he’s gone, leaving Seungmin with a racing mind, pulsating heart and flushed cheeks, thoughts embarrassingly stuck on the sudden nickname. 

  
  


***

  
  


It’s Friday, and Seungmin has just finished his last exam of the season; walking out of the exam hall with light shoulders and a free-feeling chest as he clutches his clear pencil case to his chest and heaves a huge sigh. 

Now that exams are finally over, he’s planning to go back to his dorm room and  _ sleep _ for as long as he possibly can. After all, tomorrow is Saturday, so he’s free for two whole days, so there is absolutely nothing standing in his way. 

.... Oh. 

Perhaps there  _ is _ something standing in his way after all. 

Seungmin feels like his whole body is alight as he comes face-to-face with a certain Hwang Hyunjin once more, the taller boy’s frame seeming to be framed by the sunlight behind him, hair flowing in the wind. 

It’s unfair, how beautiful he is. 

“Hey, Seungmin,” Hyunjin goes in for a hug, and Seungmin is more than taken by surprise; hands still occupied with his pencil case and getting pressed awkwardly into the elder’s chest. They’ve never hugged before, and so Seungmin is rightly confused. 

“... Not that I’m complaining, but why the sudden hug?”

Silence reigns supreme for exactly two seconds as the autumn wind blows over the two with gentle hands. “I was just happy to see you, I guess.” Hyunjin’s easy answer leaves Seungmin feeling slightly winded with pride.

“You said your last exam was today, right?” Hyunjin speaks into Seungmin’s hair, and the younger can barely suppress a shiver at the feeling. 

“Yeah, I just came out of it now, actually,” he says, as if Hyunjin hadn’t just watched him exit the exam hall with his own two eyes. The boy hugging him laughs to himself. 

“Well, good, because I, uh… I wanted to ask you if you’d want to hang out, actually. Consider it a post-exams celebration.” 

Now it’s Seungmin’s turn to blink as Hyunjin pulls away from him to gauge his reaction, and he’s sure his expression mirrors the other’s from just a few days ago, in the library. 

“You- what?” 

Hyunjin giggles, light and airy, and Seungmin just wants to bottle that sound up and keep it forever. “Well, I’m not sure if you already had plans, but you don’t strike me as the party type, so- only if you want to!- I was thinking we could head back to my dorm, and we can watch a movie. A relaxing way to recover after exam season, I say.” Hyunjin shifts, suddenly nervous. “If you don’t want to there’s no pressure at all!”

“Oh.” Seungmin smiles widely at the object of his secret affections, and feels featherlight as he processes the offer. “I’d love that, actually. Thank you.” 

“Great!” Hyunjin waves his hands about happily, and positively  _ beams _ . “Did you want to meet later or come back to my dorm now?”

Seungmin considers, and remembers he’s left his phone at his own dorm, and would quite like to shower the exam season feeling off his skin before doing anything else; he vocalises this to the elder, and after agreeing to meet him in an hour or so, Seungmin rushes back off to his dorm room, buzzing with newfound energy and motivation to actually go out and do something tonight. 

Two hours pass quickly, and Seungmin finds himself wanting to look as good as possible tonight, even though he’s literally only going to be lazing around with Hyunjin and will probably end up looking a mess by the end of their lolling about. With that in mind, he keeps his face devoid of any makeup he might have considered applying, and settles for simple sweatpants and a huge hoodie to snuggle into instead of dressing up, forcing himself to choose comfy over good-looking. It’s not like it’s a date or anything. Just two friends having a movie night. 

**

“Hey, Minnie!” Hyunjin greets the younger as he opens the door to his room, waving Seungmin inside with a flourish of his hands and a wide smile. “Make yourself comfortable.”

The elder is wearing pretty much the same as Seungmin; sweatpants and a grey zip-up hoodie that makes him look like such textbook  _ boyfriend material _ that Seungmin has to physically hold himself back from just hugging him right then and there. His hair is tucked behind his ears and under a blank baseball cap, but Hyunjin whips the cap off straight away, setting it down on his desk before reaching up to ruffle his hair up a little more, getting rid of the flat way the hat had made it sit on his head before turning back to Seungmin and motioning to the bed kindly.

Seungmin settles for sitting politely on the edge of the elder’s bed; this being the first time either have been to the other’s dorm room, and Seungmin doesn’t want to accidentally overstep any unspoken boundaries. Hyunjin giggles lightly, and jumps onto the bed beside Seungmin; much harder and rougher than the younger had. 

“Don’t feel shy, it’s just me! Get comfy,” Hyunjin insists. “We’re going to be here for a while either way.” 

Hesitantly, Seungmin pushes himself back onto the bed, shuffling backwards until he feels his back come into contact with the wall behind him. 

“Here, put these behind you,” Hyunjin hands him a couple of pillows, ever the attentive gentleman, “I don’t want to give you backache after all of this.”

“Thank you.” Seungmin’s lips stretch into a grateful smile, and as he arranges the pillows behind him, he misses the way Hyunjin blushes and has to hide his face for a second or two.

“So… what movie were you thinking of watching?” Seungmin asks, and can only hope Hyunjin hasn’t picked out a scary movie. He loves scary movies, granted; just not tonight. He feels  _ way _ too tired from exams to handle jumpscares this time. 

Hyunjin makes a little ‘ah!’ sound of recognition, and picks up three discs that were sitting on his desk. 

“I have these ones here, but I also have Disney Plus and Netflix on my laptop too, so whatever you feel like.” 

“You’re the host, you can choose the movie!” Seungmin feels unreasonably flustered by the choice. 

“You’re the guest, though!” Hyunjin’s laughter is warm and rumbles deep within his chest as he sets the discs down on the duvet, in front of his crossed legs. “Ok, we’ll compromise. What  _ kind _ of movie do you want to watch?”

Seungmin’s mouth twists into a cute pout as he thinks. “Preferably not anything scary. I’m too tired after exams for jumpscares.” 

“Valid!” Hyunjin puts away one of his DVD discs. “What else?”

“Maybe a Disney movie?” Seungmin admittedly feels a little stupid as the words leave his mouth, but hey, Disney is for all ages! “I like watching disney movies when relaxing.”

“Disney it is!” Hyunjin made it all seem so easy, where Seungmin had felt too rude outright asking for a movie; Hyunjin had guided him into the very simple act of vocalising what he’d prefer. It’s a small thing, but Seungmin feels warm because of it; usually having a habit of letting others take the lead and going along with whatever they wanted first and foremost. It felt nice to be prioritised. 

“My favourite Disney movie is probably Tangled,” Hyunjin confides in the younger, and Seungmin smiles again. 

“Let’s watch Tangled, then.”

“Tangled it is!” 

Hyunjin presses play, and the two both let themselves fully relax as the opening plays, laying back against Hyunjin’s pillows and letting out satisfied exhales, only an arm’s width away from one another.

“I know Flynn is a thief and everything, but damn,” Hyunjin giggles quietly once the infamous criminal makes his first appearance. “He do be kinda cute.” 

Seungmin snorts. “All Disney characters are unfairly good-looking. Hey, if you continue growing out your hair you could become Rapunzel!” he punctuates his suggestion by carding his fingers through Hyunjin’s shoulder-length locks. “You already have the voice.”

“You think so?” Hyunjin purposely flicks his hair into Seungmin’s face, the action eliciting another giggle from the younger. “I wouldn’t have the magic, though.”

“Well, we can’t have it all,” Seungmin teases. 

If Seungmin is completely honest, the rest of the movie kind of blurs from then on, until Flynn and Rapunzel make it into town and the small montage of them bonding begins. Along with the movie progressing, their positions had also changed throughout the screen time, and now Seungmin is leaning against Hyunjin’s arm and shoulder after the latter had shuffled closer bit by bit. 

“I’ve always liked this soundtrack,” he mumbles, head resting on Hyunjin’s shoulder with the excuse of him getting sleepy. Hyunjin never complained; he welcomes the skinship, if anything.

“There’s something so freeing about it,” the latter hums, winding an arm around Seungmin’s waist. “I’d love to feel this free and happy with someone else… a real fairytale love story.”

“Yeah…” Seungmin’s eyes unfocus in his sleepy stupor, and he finds himself thinking. Daydreaming, if you will. He visualises what it would be like to be in a similar position to the movie’s current situation with someone else; with Hyunjin. Dancing around a village barefoot without a care in the world as the object of your affections looks on fondly and even joins in. 

It must be nice. 

Hyunjin gasps, and Seungmin blinks rapidly, looking around the room for the source of the elder’s shock-  _ shit. Not again. _

“I  _ know _ I’m not imagining things this time,” Hyunjin’s voice shakes as he points at a point right next to his TV. “There’s no way.” 

In a frenzied panic, Seungmin’s hands come up to bat at the air in front of them both, shooing away the misty image of himself and Hyunjin he’d created that hung eerily in the air. 

“Ok, it’s a  _ fact _ I didn’t imagine that now that you just did that,” Hyunjin’s eyes are wide as he pulls away from Seungmin. “Minnie, what in the world was that?” 

“Uhhh…” Seungmin wants to run. But he knows that however far he escapes, Hyunjin will find a way to wriggle back into his life; there’s no questioning that he has to be upfront about the truth of his ability; for the first time in his life.

Really, it’s a miracle he’s even made it this far, all things considered. 

He may as well start from the beginning… 

  
  
  


***

  
  
  


At the end of Seungmin’s long-winded explanation, Hyunjin is even more wide-eyed than before, panting slightly as he tries to take everything in. 

“So… wait. In summary, you were blessed before you were born with a magical but involuntary ability to project the things you’re imagining into the physical world,” Hyunjin repeats, and Seungmin nods.

“Essentially, yeah. I’m sorry that you had to see that, usually I’m better at keeping my thoughts on track.”

“Wait, so you were imagining us both in the same scenario as the Kingdom Dance from Tangled?” Hyunjin’s features break out into a soft smile as he recognises the fact. “That’s actually super cute.” 

“It’s  _ embarrassing. _ ” Seungmin puffs out an annoyed sigh and makes to get off the bed. “In light of that, I’ll leave now. I’m sorry for making things weird with my imagination projection.”

“What?” Fingers wrap around Seungmin’s wrist, and he looks back over his shoulder to see Hyunjin kneeling up; ready to follow him, expression sad. “Why are you leaving? You did nothing wrong.”

“I don’t know about you, Hyunjin, but I feel kind of awkward now that you’ve literally seen into my mind where I was imagining us on a date in a Disney realm.”

“I don’t find it awkward at all,” Hyunjin whispers, “and if I’m reading this right, it means you’d want that to happen. The date, I mean.”

Seungmin stays silent, swallowing thickly. He just wants to leave, the embarrassment and accidental vulnerability having been too much for his sleep-addled brain to take in all at once. Just one time, he nods; the movement barely noticeable, more of a twitch of his head if anything. But it’s enough for Hyunjin.

“Stay.” The elder’s voice is barely audible at this point. “I can’t promise you a date in Rapunzel’s kingdom, but we could start here…”

Wait. Hold up. 

‘What?” the younger’s voice is impossibly high as he soaks up the other’s implications. 

Hyunjin smiles again, trying to put the other at ease. “I mean, at some point we could always go to Disneyland. But it’s the middle of the semester and we’re both broke students, so…”

“No. Wait.” Seungmin shakes his head, clearing his ears of the invisible water that’s making his head feel clogged and fuzzy. “Start here?”

“We could turn this into a date… our first date,” Hyunjin suggests boldly. “Unless you want it to be somewhere fancier, or more planned out-”

“No! I mean, this is fine by me,” Seungmin’s brow furrows as he makes sense of what’s going on. “You’re not creeped out by any of this?”

“Why would I be? You couldn’t help it,” Hyunjin spreads his hands, “and it was a cute scenario… I’d love to see some more, if you’d let me.”

Seungmin smiles, climbs back onto the bed again. “Maybe another time. Can we finish the movie?”

“Of course.” Hyunjin hits play, and opens his arms for the younger to crawl into, holding him tight. “Let’s watch another movie after this one. Technically, our date has only just begun, right this very second.” 

Taking the opportunity to burrow his head into the crook of Hyunjin’s neck, Seungmin smiles to himself as he feels the elder press a chaste kiss to the top of his hair. 

His entire life, he’d been so terrified of someone else finding out about his ability.

But now that it’s happened, he can’t help but be grateful.

  
  


Maybe it wasn't such a curse to bear, after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, I hope this met your expectations!  
> Please leave a comment letting me know what you thought <3 Just a small one-shot to meet your fluffy needs!


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